A Pregnant Pause (Clearblue One Minute Pregnancy Test)

Member Name: chrisandmark

Product:	Clearblue One Minute Pregnancy Test
Date:	29/08/03 (4452 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easily available, Puts your mind at rest in less than 1 minute

Disadvantages: Expensive wen you can get it done free at the doctors

The things we have to go through..... After last months period came and went again in the matter of hours, I've had this sinking feeling that I might be pregnant for about a week now. I know lots of you girls will identify with this 'pregnancy scare' but I don't think men have any idea how utterly terrifying it is to be late when you don't want to be. Now don't get me wrong, I've got 2 kids and love them to bits but I don't want a third. Ever. Why am I in this situation? Basically because I'm on the pill and twice last month I was late taking it cos we stopped at a friends house and I had an upset tummy last week, which can affect the reliability of the pill. Of course, being on the pill will cause withdrawal bleeds when you don't take it so unfortunately if you happen to get pregnant while on the pill you might not know for a while as your periods won't necessarily stop. You have to be on the ball a little bit and notice any changes in your bleeds because that could be an indication of you being pregnant rather than your periods stopping altogether, which is what happens if you're not taking the pill. It's like this in my case anyway, but everyone's different in this situation. So this past week has been a bit of a nightmare, made worse by the fact that 3 mornings running I've collected a urine sample to take to the doctors and I've not had time to drop it in before the tests go off to the hospital (or wherever they go) so I was still left wondering. Add to this that the average GP surgery takes between 3 and 5 days to process a pregnancy test and you're left dangling in the air for over a week. This isn't a problem if the baby's planned but if you're not sure what you're going to do if you ARE pregnant then time is of the essence. So this morning I thought sod it, I'll go and get home testing kit and I'll know in minutes.

Off I toddled this morning to Boots to pick

up a test. I was surprised at how much choice you've got! It's not as simple as going and picking a test up off the shelf and paying for it, there's a whole rack dedicated to telling women if they're pregnant or not! I chose Clearblue for the simple reason that it's a well known and respected brand and claims that it's over 99% accurate on the box. This sounds perfect. :o)


Now, pregnancy tests work by detecting tiny amounts of hCG (human Chorionic Gonadotrophin) in a sample of your urine. This is the human pregnancy hormone and Clearblue can trace this in your urine from the day your period is due, this is good news for me as my period should have officially ended the day before yesterday.


oOoOo THE BOX oOoOo

The Clearblue test comes in a very clinical looking box. For some reason, this reassured me more than seeing the Boots own label test which is in a highly decorated pink box. I think if I wanted to be pregnant then I might have gone for the Boots test as it seemed more like good news, but under the circumstances a more 'official' looking box seemed more appropriate.

The box is basically a blue cardboard box with the Clearblue name and a picture of the testing implement you can expect to find inside the box. I must add here though, the picture of the test stick on the box shows what it will look like if you ARE pregnant and as soon as I realised this I felt like going back to see if there was one which showed a NOT PREGNANT result! lol It claims to be over 99% accurate and also to be the brand most recommended by doctors. Clearblue certainly have pride in their company as they make various 'choose me' claims on the box such as saying that Clearblue is 'the symbol for certainty.' It's a very reassuring box because you just get the feeling that Clearblue won't be wrong and what 'the stick' says goes! Scary really, that the course of your whole life s
hould
boil down to a little plastic stick from the chemist.

Turn the box around and you're shown yet another picture of a pregnant result - why did I look? That has got to be the last thing I want to see today! Also, brief instructions on how to do the test and advice to read the enclosed instructions before opening your test kit. Contact details and patent/trademark information follows with general advice on how to store and look after your kit. Well, Mr Clearblue, I stored in in my handbag while I drove home and then looked after it while I wee'd in a cup! Not much to it really is there? lol For those who care, this test kit must be stored at room temperature (below 30* C) and kept out of the reach of children. It also states that 'this device is for home use' - well, it's called Clearblue HOME pregnancy test so I should bloody well think so! The box can be recycled, although this is probably the last thing on your mind. ;o)

oOoOo INSIDE THE BOX oOoOo

A minimum of fuss, you've simply got a small instruction sheet and your test stick which is completely encased in a foil wrapper bearing the legend 'Clearblue' all over it in case you forget who's going to tell you this momentous news. :o)

oOoOo WHAT TO DO oOoOo

I did my test about half an hour ago so without boring you with the page of instructions, I'll tell you what I did.

Once you've opened the foil wrapper, you're greeted with a white stick (it's the only word for it!) with a dark blue cap. On the stick are 2 clear plastic 'windows', one tells you the test is ready to read and the other shows whether you're pregnant or not. A very basic key is included which just says:

Pregnant - (+)
Not pregnant - (--)

How do you like yours? lol The end of the stick is ridged slightly so it's comfortable to hold. Taking the top off shows an absorbant strip.

Clearblue reall
y is easy
to use. Either hold the stick with the absorbant strip pointing downwards in your urine stream for 5 minutes or collect a sample of urine in a clean, dry (this is important) container and hold the strip in for 20 seconds - and ONLY 20 seconds. I opted for the container method as I was worried in case I missed my aim (lol) and the test didn't work properly. I took the stick out of the cup after 20 seconds and then one of the longest minutes of my life began. You have to wait for a minute with the stick either pointing downwards or lying flat until a line appears in the 'ready to read' window. Once this line appears you can check if you're pregnant or not. The result window is the bigger of the 2 and if you are pregnant, a cross will come up and if you're NOT a straight line going horizontally across the wondow. And............ I'm NOT pregnant! Hoooooray! :o)

It tells you in the instructions that the appearance of a 'pregnant' result may vary and then goes on to show the 3 most common examples of 'dodgy' pregnancy results. So I get the magnifying glass out to make sure my wonderful horizontal line isn't somehow going to morph into a cross and study my result for 5 minutes before I'm confident enough to think it's worked! And after 5 minutes I'm still not pregnant. After 15 minutes, however, the result window goes a bit funny and I start panicing until I notice on the box it says that the result must be read within 10 minutes of taking the test - so a wierd reaction must happen after 10 minutes that can give an unclear result.

oOoOo WHAT ELSE? oOoOo

Did I tell you I'm not pregnant? lol The test cost me £8.99 from Boots and while I was there I noticed that Clearblue also do a double-pack so you can check your results after 3 days and this costs £11.99. Some chemist will do a pregnancy test for you if you take a urine sample in to them and this test is usually done usi
ng Clearblue (I
asked the chemist once!) and costs roughly the same as buying your own test. You get your result in 5 minutes when using this service and a lot of women probably like this as it would seem more 'medical' if you're informed by the pharmacist. Myself though, I'd rather do the test myself and then I know that it's been done properly and it hasn't got mixed up! lol

Clearblue have an informative website at www.clearblue.info where you can learn about menstrual cycles, problems that might occur and sexual health. There's also a section that explores common myths about getting pregnant - it's surprising how many women nowadays still think you can't get pregnant if it's the first time you've had sex!

Thanks for reading and I hope someone found it helpful. :o)

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